With an increase in intelligent electronic devices and development of a man-machine interaction technology, a gesture recognition technology is applied to more intelligent electronic devices. A smartphone recognizes a gesture by means of gesture recognition input, to perform an operation such as making a phone call or enabling an application program. This can improve user experience.
In the prior art, relatively mature gesture recognition is using an image recognition technology to recognize an interaction command. In such an image-recognition-based method, a high-performance camera apparatus usually needs to be equipped. For example, a relatively typical application is an Xbox Kinect product of Microsoft. In this method, a still or dynamic image is obtained by using a camera device, then the image is analyzed by using a computer vision algorithm, and pattern matching is performed, so as to understand a meaning of such a gesture, and implement gesture recognition. However, in this technology, the high-performance camera apparatus is required, and a high-performance processor is required to perform a complex image analysis algorithm, resulting in high costs and difficulty in miniaturization. In addition, a to-be-recognized action needs to face the camera apparatus. Consequently, this technology cannot be widely applied due to the foregoing shortcomings.
Recently, Google releases a demonstration system of a smartwatch based on gesture recognition control. Without a need to touch a watch face, a user may control the smartwatch by using a finger movement and a gesture change as input. For example, the user may control a menu switch operation on the smartwatch by simulating a watch header remove action or a winding action near the smartwatch by using a finger. Google calls such a gesture operation interaction technology as “Project Soli” in which radar including radio detection and ranging radar is used to detect a gesture of the user and a slight action of a finger, and the gesture and the action are converted into information for input. The radar transmits a radio wave and collects reflective sensing of a hit target. For example, a user stimulates a winding action by rubbing an index finger with a thumb, and a system recognizes this gesture or action, and redirects the gesture to input the gesture to an application program. However, in this technology, a relatively expensive millimeter-level radar microchip is required to recognize a wireless receive signal change caused by a gesture change, so as to perform gesture recognition control, and therefore, costs are high. Consequently, only a high-end product can support such gesture recognition.
To sum up, in all existing gesture recognition technologies, a new high-cost component is required to be added to a device, resulting in high costs. A new gesture recognition method and technology is urgently required in the field, so as to reduce modification of hardware of user equipment to a minimum, and implement a gesture recognition function with low costs.